Mild-to-Moderate Kidney Dysfunction and Cardiovascular Disease: Observational and Mendelian Randomization Analyses
Authors: Liam Gaziano, Luanluan Sun, Matthew Arnold, Steven Bell, Kelly Cho, Stephen K. Kaptoge, Rebecca J. Song, Stephen Burgess, Daniel C. Posner, Katja Mosconi, Cassianne Robinson-Cohen, Amy M. Mason, Thomas R. Bolton, Ran Tao, Elias Allara, Petra Schubert, Lingyan Chen, James R. Staley, Natalie Staplin, Servet Altay, Pilar Amiano, Volker Arndt, Johan Ärnlöv, Elizabeth L.M. Barr, Cecilia Björkelund, Jolanda M.A. Boer, Hermann Brenner, Edoardo Casiglia, Paolo Chiodini, Jackie A. Cooper, Josef Coresh, Mary Cushman, Rachel Dankner, Karina W. Davidson, Renate T. de Jongh, Chiara Donfrancesco, Gunnar Engström, Heinz Freisling, Agustín Gómez de la Cámara, Vilmundur Gudnason, Graeme J. Hankey, Per-Olof Hansson, Alicia K. Heath, Ewout J. Hoorn, Hironori Imano, Simerjot K. Jassal, Rudolf Kaaks, Verena Katzke, Jussi Kauhanen, Stefan Kiechl, Wolfgang Koenig, Richard A. Kronmal, Cecilie Kyrø, Deborah A. Lawlor, Börje Ljungberg, Conor MacDonald, Giovanna Masala, Christa Meisinger, Olle Melander, Conchi Moreno Iribas, Toshiharu Ninomiya, Dorothea Nitsch, Børge G. Nordestgaard, Charlotte Onland-Moret, Luigi Palmieri, Dafina Petrova, Jose Ramón Quirós Garcia, Annika Rosengren, Carlotta Sacerdote, Masaru Sakurai, Carmen Santiuste, Matthias B. Schulze, Sabina Sieri, Johan Sundström, Valérie Tikhonoff, Anne Tjønneland, Tammy Tong, Rosario Tumino, Ioanna Tzoulaki, Yvonne T. van der Schouw, W.M. Monique Verschuren, Henry Völzke, Robert B. Wallace, S. Goya Wannamethee, Elisabete Weiderpass, Peter Willeit, Mark Woodward, Kazumasa Yamagishi, Raul Zamora-Ros, Elvis A. Akwo, Saiju Pyarajan, David R. Gagnon, Philip S. Tsao, Sumitra Muralidhar, Todd L. Edwards, Scott M. Damrauer, Jacob Joseph, Lisa Pennells, Peter W.F. Wilson, Seamus Harrison, Thomas A. Gaziano, Michael Inouye, Colin Baigent, Juan P. Casas, Claudia Langenberg, Nick Wareham, Elio Riboli, J.Michael Gaziano, John Danesh, Adriana M. Hung, Adam S. Butterworth, Angela M. Wood, Emanuele Di Angelantonio, Anna Koettgen, Jonathan Shaw, Robert Atkins, Paul Zimmet, Peter Whincup, Peter Willeit, Johann Willeit, Christoph Leitner, Edoardo Casiglia, Valérie Tikhonoff, Anne Tybjaerg-Hansen, Peter Schnohr, Shoaib Afzal, David Lora Pablos, Cristina Martin Arriscado, Carmen Romero Ferreiro, Robert B. Wallace, Hannah Stocker, Ben Schöttker, Bernd Holleczek, Angela Chetrit, Lennart Welin, Kurt Svärdsudd, Lennart Welin, Kurt Svärdsudd, Lauren Lissner, Dominique Hange, Kirsten Mehlig, Dorothea Nagel, Paul E. Norman, Osvaldo Almeida, Leon Flicker, Jun Hata, Takanori Honda, Yoshihiko Furuta, Hiroyasu Iso, Akihiko Kitamura, Isao Muraki, Jukka T. Salonen, Tomi-Pekka Tuomainen, E. M. van Zutphen, N. M. van Schoor, Chiara Donfrancesco, Cinzia Lo Noce, Luigi Palmieri, Mary Cushman, Richard Kronmal, Wolfgang Koenig, Christa Meisinger, Georg Lappas, Peter M. Nilsson, Olle Melander, Bo Hedblad, Dorothea Nitsch, Jackie A. Cooper, Jonathan Shaffer, Joseph Schwartz, Daichi Shimbo, Shinichi Sato, Hiroyasu Iso, Mina Hayama-Terada, Simerjot Jassal, Thor Aspelund, Bolli Thorsson, Gunnar Sigurdsson, Layal Chaker, Kamran M. Ikram, Maryam Kavousi, Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe, Mark Woodward, Henry Völzke, Günay Can, Hüsniye Yüksel, Uğur Özkan, Hideaki Nakagawa, Yuko Morikawa, Masao Ishizaki, Johan Ärnlöv, Volker Arndt, Edith Feskens, Johanna M Geleijnse, Daan Kromhout
Journal: Circulation (2022)

End-stage renal disease is associated with a high risk of cardiovascular events. It is unknown, however, whether mild-to-moderate kidney dysfunction is causally related to coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke. Observational analyses were conducted using individual-level data from 4 population data sources (Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration, EPIC-CVD [European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Cardiovascular Disease Study], Million Veteran Program, and UK Biobank), comprising 648 135 participants with no history of cardiovascular disease or diabetes at baseline, yielding 42 858 and 15 693 incident CHD and stroke events, respectively, during 6.8 million person-years of follow-up. Using a genetic risk score of 218 variants for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), we conducted Mendelian randomization analyses involving 413 718 participants (25 917 CHD and 8622 strokes) in EPIC-CVD, Million Veteran Program, and UK Biobank. There were U-shaped observational associations of creatinine-based eGFR with CHD and stroke, with higher risk in participants with eGFR values <60 or >105 mL·min-1·1.73 m-2, compared with those with eGFR between 60 and 105 mL·min-1·1.73 m-2. Mendelian randomization analyses for CHD showed an association among participants with eGFR <60 mL·min-1·1.73 m-2, with a 14% (95% CI, 3%-27%) higher CHD risk per 5 mL·min-1·1.73 m-2 lower genetically predicted eGFR, but not for those with eGFR >105 mL·min-1·1.73 m-2. Results were not materially different after adjustment for factors associated with the eGFR genetic risk score, such as lipoprotein(a), triglycerides, hemoglobin A1c, and blood pressure. Mendelian randomization results for stroke were nonsignificant but broadly similar to those for CHD. In people without manifest cardiovascular disease or diabetes, mild-to-moderate kidney dysfunction is causally related to risk of CHD, highlighting the potential value of preventive approaches that preserve and modulate kidney function.